Former United Synagogue Head Urges More Welfare Fund Money for Jewish Education

October 28, 1969

KIAMESHA LAKE, N.Y. (Oct. 27)

A leader of Conservative Judaism urged the American Jewish community and its welfare funds today to revise priorities in order to furnish more money for Jewish education. Henry N. Rapaport, outgoing president of the United Synagogue of America, said that Jewish education provided the only assurance of Jewish survival. “Without survival,” he declared, “there will be no need for Jewish welfare funds, Jewish hospitals or Jewish defense agencies.”

Mr. Rapaport, of Scarsdale, N.Y., addressed the biennial convention of the United Synagogue, which represents 831 congregations with an aggregate membership of 1.5 million in the U.S. and Canada. He defined Jewish survival as “religious survival,” asserting that “there is no evidence that sociocultural activities can alone provide the sinews of survival.” Mr. Rapaport, a vice president of the American Association for Jewish Education, contended that “poor religious education is an even greater threat to the American Jewish community than inter-marriage.”

Jacob Stein of Great Neck, NY. was elected today as president. He had served as vice president for the past four years.